


All Good Things

by HeadJams



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Fluff, Hogwarts AU, M/M, Panic attack mentions/hints
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-17
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-07 23:10:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3186749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeadJams/pseuds/HeadJams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(summary to come. feel free to write one.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Parv watched the students from Korgstroff and Sir Embrastion’s Academy enter the hall, making a display of their talents, showing off.

Korgstroff entering through a flourry of charmed snow that evaporated instead of melting, ice crystals towering up from the ground and down from the ceiling, both of which shattered into more charmed snow as the students sat down.

Sir Embrastion’s made giant, sparkling versions of each house mascot to fly over their respective tables, make a lap of the room and fly directly up to disappear into the enchanted ceiling.

Parv wouldn’t have paid attention to much of Embrastion’s - he wasn’t so easily entranced by what were actually some pretty simple spells, he could do them himself if he weren’t so bad at charms - if it hadn’t been for a few girls at his table giggling about the puppeteer of the Slytherin Snake.

He was tall, blonde, broad shouldered, and thin framed glasses were perched on his nose, green eyes glittering with the reflection of the giant snake he controlled wandlessly, making more of a show with his hands than was strictly necessary as he walked down along the Slytherin table. Parv could tell he was pointedly ignoring his audience, almost like he was pretending they weren’t there, whereas his fellow students were waving and blowing kisses and throwing sparkles into the air with a shake of their pompoms.

How very American.

Parv leaned in his seat to watch him walk away.

The beige slacks he wore fit him very nicely. Very nicely indeed.

~

He saw the blonde Embrastion’s student occasionally - allot of them were blonde to be fair, blonde and tanned and charming, mingling with students from all three schools like natural born socialites - but this specific guy with the glasses and the faint blonde stubble on his chin didn’t mingle as much as the others, well he did, but he never seemed to talk. If Parv didn’t see him with his friends then he’d see him in the library, when Parv was pretending to do his homework, reading quietly in a corner.

He looked different when he was alone, more at ease, the strong features on his face relaxing.

Parv was about to get up and introduce himself when three giggling Ravenclaw second years approached him. He looked appropriately surprised and flattered by whatever they were saying, very tactful of him, he was probably really used to girls falling at his feet.

~

Parv swaggered confidently up to the Goblet of Fire, downing the few drops of Liquid Luck he’d acquired before stepping through the barrier, and paused.

A hushed silence fell over his fellow Slytherins as they waited for something to happen. Parv was only sixteen, seventeen soon enough (January), and someone had already tried an aging potion, so he’d passed gold into the right hands and acquired himself some Liquid Luck - not much though, it was expensive - hopefully he was Lucky enough to exploit a weakness in the charms protecting it.

When nothing happened, their cheers bellowed through the room and Parv jumped to put his name into the goblet.

He was holding out his arms in triumph when his stomach kicked and he was thrown backwards across the room, hitting something soft that made an ‘oof’ sound before hitting the floor.

Whoever he’d landed on grumbled under his breath and Parv scrambled to apologise, words tumbling out his mouth as he scrambled to stand up and help up the poor sod.

Disgruntled green eyes looked back at him as he allowed himself to be pulled up.

“You need to go to the medical ward.” he said, in deep rumbly tones for someone his age, straightening his glasses.

He stared in confusion at him, asking him what he meant, Parv felt fine, it must have the Liquid Luck, even if it hadn’t worked on the goblet. People had lost interest now they knew they were both fine, and the group of Embrastion’s students green eyes had presumably come in with were all putting their names in the goblet, cheering for each other as they did.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say but it sounds like you’ve been hit with a Reverse-the-Tongue hex.”

Parv had blushed a little and hurried off to Madam Bishops before he could embarrass himself further.

~

Madam Bishops confirmed his suspicion about the Liquid Luck, it had saved him from the honesty hex that it was supposed to be (there was a few surrounding the goblet and it was a random draw apparently) and had just hexed him to talk backwards.

In hindsight the Reverse-the-Tongue hex was preferable. Didn’t need to be spilling his guts to green eyes about how hot he was.

He was being kept over night incase something went horribly wrong but other than that he was going to be fine, it would just take a few hours for the hex to wear off.

The door to the infirmary opened a crack and Madam Bishops spoke to someone on the other side of the door for a moment, giggled a little, before letting them in. Despite how late it was.

It was green eyes, he didn’t look as disgruntled or dishevelled as he had after Parv landed on him from halfway across a room, in fact he smiled gently at Parv as he approached him and Madam Bishops returned to her office.

“I just wanted to check how you were doing.” he said,

Parv said he was okay, but clearly he was still speaking backwards so he gave him a Thumbs up instead.

“Good to know.” he held out a small parcel “I brought you this, went down to the kitchens to get you something because I noticed you weren’t at dinner. I know you’ve probably already eaten, but it’s nice to have something sweet when…” he trailed off as Parv unwrapped what ever sweet treat he’d brought for him.

He tried to finish his sentence with ‘-when you’ve embarrassed yourself publicly’ and even though green eyes didn’t really know what he said, he seemed to understand.

Wrapped up in the cloth was a selection of cookies, still warm.

“I wasn’t sure what kind you’d like so-”

Parv dug in, giving him a smile in thanks. He’d eaten, but not nearly as much as he would have if he’d been at dinner. The cookies were welcome.

Setting the cookies in his lap he swallowed his mouthful and tried to introduce himself. Green eyes stared back at him apologetically. He pointed at himself and very deliberately sounded out his name.

Understanding what he was trying to say, he sounded it out after him “Sivrap Xila?” he thought about it, trying to reverse the words in his head.

“Alex Par… Parvis?”

Parv nodded.

“Will Strife” he responded, smiling gently “Nice to meet you.”


	2. Chapter 2

Will’s name had fluttered out of the cup and Parv’s heart had skipped a beat at the sound of his name.

Embrastion’s students burst into cheers and applause, all of them shooting to their feet. It took Will a moment, and Parv could swear he looked a little paler, but he was dragged to his feet and every member of Embrastion’s that could reach him shook his hand, a few girls kissed his cheek.

Parv wasn’t jealous.

Will played the showman and grinned, shaking every hand that was offered, accepting kisses and nodding his head appreciatively to other students and teachers that applauded. He shook the headmasters hand and followed the Hogwarts and Korgstroff champions out through a door at the back of the hall.

Parv got the feeling Will had tried to look for him when his eyes had lingered on the Slytherin table. But he was probably imagining it.

They hadn’t really gotten the chance to speak since the infirmary, a combination of lessons and Will never really being left alone anymore.

He often wondered why Will had come to visit him, his friends hadn’t, but his friends were dicks so there you go. Surely no one was really that nice, not to people they just met anyway? It wasn’t like he could feel responsible for what happened? If anything he’d stopped Parv from getting a serious concussion.

It was later on in the week, and he hadn’t seen Will without his new herd of sycophants so he still hadn’t been able to say hi, and actually properly say thanks for the cookies, and for visiting.

By the end of the week Parv was avoiding the Slytherin common room and hiding in the library, trying to look like he was doing homework, and hiding behind a stack of books.

It was unusual for him to feel so down over a guy. He knew he was a flirt, everyone knew he was a flirt, the teachers knew he was a flirt. It felt weird and uncomfortable thinking about how often Will was in his thoughts. And it wasn’t like Will had shown disinterest, or interest, or anything at all really, all the Embrastion’s students seemed really friendly so maybe Will’s behaviour was just ‘their way’. Hell if he knew.

He scratched the now dry quill in the corner of the page, spreading the ink and tearing the parchment, chin resting on the table and arm wrapped round the lower half of his face. Mind running round in circles trying to focus on his transfiguration work.

Someone knocking on the table like they would a door brought him out of the dizzying endless confusion.

He looked up to see Will standing next to him, carrying books under his arm and head tilted in a ‘you okay?’ sort of way. He didn’t expect Parv to jump up like he did, just stopping short of hugging him and opting for a slightly awkward hand shake.

“Well done on the whole champion thing.” he said, probably not the first or the last to say that.

“Uh, yeah, thanks… “

Parv sat down and gestured for Will to sit with him, and he did he fished something out his pocket “I was just wondering, did you brew this yourself?” he was holding out the now empty vial that had previously contained the Liquid Luck.

“No, I got it from…” Parv chose his words carefully “A friend.”

“Well, it’s not Felix Felicis, not quite anyway.”

“What?”

“I had to wait till I had the chance to run some tests on it, but it’s not been properly made. You see the pale flecks in it? It’s actually what some potion brewers will call ‘Fools Gold’.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Well, it’s difficult to explain because there wasn’t enough left to do any kind of through testing, but usually it hasn’t been left to brew for long enough, the brewer skimped on good ingredients or the charm, ‘felixempra’, wasn’t delivered properly. There was this huge problem over in the states with this stuff not long ago, but it can actually make you really sick, so I just -uh- I just wanted to check you weren’t, well, dying.”

Parv smiled “I don’t feel like I’m dying.”

“No recklessness? Feelings of indestructibility? Nausea?”

Parv smiled and made a joke about how Will must not know him very well, and Will chuckled, then they both fell silent. Will fiddled with the vial, picking at the broken wax seal with his pristine nails. He’d done all that testing because he’d seen something that could very well have just been flecks of wax that fell in when he broke the seal. He scowled at his homework to take his mind off the thought that Will had worried about him.

Will tilted his head again “You okay?” he asked, somewhat gentler than Parv was expecting.

“Yeah…” he mumbled, he was happy to see Will, but this did have to be in tomorrow. “I don’t understand Transfiguration… Or Charms… Or Potions… Or…”

“Do you need some help? What are you working on?”

Will put his books on the table and moved the unneeded stack Parv had been hiding behind so he could shuffle his chair closer to Parv’s and they could both read the pitiful essay he’d started.

“Bird-Conjuring Charms? Well you’re nearly there…” he took his own quill out his bag, favouring it over Parv’s now thoroughly broken one. He made a few corrections and added a few bullet points at the bottom for him to shape another paragraph around. Then he gave Parv a new roll of parchment to rewrite it on.

He stayed mostly silent as he watched Parv write up his new essay, helping with spelling and sentence structure when asked.

“Wasn’t so bad now was it?” Will said, one hand on his shoulder. Parv shrugged as he moved his essay to one side so the ink could dry, having Will help him was nice, he was so good at explaining things.

“What else do you need to do?”

“Know anything about Divination?”

“Very little, what is it you need to do exactly?”

“Something about…” he tried to remember the professors words “Palm reading, I’ve got to detail uh- lines, and what each one means… it would help if I had a volunteer though?” he suggested, smiling as Will raised his eyebrow.

Will kept his hand still as Parv drew it onto parchment, didn’t make comment as Parv made vague predictions about his future and fleshed it out enough to make it seem like he hadn’t just copied straight from the book (which he had). As he scowled at his almost finished work he felt Will’s knee bump against his and stay there, Parv moved away because maybe he was invading Will’s space. Then as Will leaned to point out a spelling mistake his thumb brushed very deliberately across the back of his hand.

Parv looked at Will, his cheeks heating up. Will glanced back at him very briefly, his cheeks were red too.

He cleared his throat “You can probably -uh- finish this on your own? It’s looking good, the essay, you just need to… conclude it.”

“You have to go?”

“Yeah. I’ve got… a thing.” he waved vaguely, picking up his books.

“Oh, well, thanks for the help.”

“It’s no problem, anytime, feel free to ask.”


	3. Chapter 3

Will paced, not nervously - well yes, nervously - but he paced when he was thinking and that what he was doing, thinking.

All three of the champions were in the champions tent, the Hogwarts champion - Ross - had drawn the curtains on his section and Will had heard muffled voices before one of them cast a muffling charm so they couldn’t be heard.

Korgstroff’s champion was talking in hushed Russian to themselves, probably talking themselves up and ‘getting their head in the game’ to some effect.

And Will paced. From one end of the tent to the other. A few of his fellow students had come to wish him well, they’d all made extravagant banners bearing his name and the Embrastion’s coat of arms. Kirin had even stopped by to wish him luck, there was certainly no turning back from this now.

He walked into his section and paused, it was stocked with a bed and medical supplies if worst came to worst. His gear was folded neatly on the bed, best get ready he supposed. He drew the curtain and undressed.

He was half dressed when he heard “Psst…” come from the other side of the tent wall.

“Hello?” he enquired in a hushed tone.

“Will?”

“Parvis?”

“… Can I come in?”

Will looked around, he pulled on his long sleeved top and picked his wand up off the bed and cast a muffling spell. He lifted the bottom of the tent up to find Parv already crouched there, and he crawled inside, the tent falling shut behind him.

Parv stood silently for a moment, looking as nervous as Will felt. “I wanted to wish you luck.”

“Thanks” Will nodded, what else could he say?

“And I wanted to thank you for coming to visit me in the infirmary, and for the -uh- Fools Gold info, I’ve let the right people know and I don’t think they’ll be selling it any time soon.”

Will squinted at the last part but let it slide “It’s -uh- it’s no problem really, I just wanted to make sure you were okay… both times.”

Parv smiled and looked at the floor.

Will shuffled his feet and cleared his throat, he quite liked Parv - or at least he did for all of the five minuets that he’d known him - but he wasn’t one for a fling and he was all too aware that at the end of this tournament he’d be going back to the states. He turned back to his gear and started fitting the leather armour to himself, fingers fiddling nervously with the buckles.

“How was your-” “After the first challenge-”They both tried to speak at the same time.

“Sorry, you first.”

“No, I was just gonna ask how your essay’s went, you go.”

“Oh, they -uh- they went alright…” Parv took a steady breath. “I was just wondering if, this weekend - after the first challenge - if you wanted to go down to Hogsmeade. With me.”

Will froze a little bit, still trying to fasten a piece to his arm, his hands shaking a little. “What’s Hogsmeade?”

“It’s this little village near the school, third years and older can go down there at the weekends.”  
“Well, yeah, I’d like that.” he half smiled, giving up on the buckle and tapping it with his wand.

Parv smiled again “Cool.” he looked like he wanted to say something else but by the sounds of it the headteachers and that weird guy from the ministry had come in and the first challenge was about to start.

Without thinking Parv stood on his toes and quickly pecked Will on the cheek, accidentally bumping his nose against him before wishing him luck once more and ducking out the way he came.

~

Yaoguai. The first challenge was a cave full of goddamn Yaoguai. Their horrible red eyes and huge broken claws, slinking through the darkness where Will couldn’t see them.

He hated Yaoguai.

He hoped he didn’t scream, his headmaster would be none too happy if he’d done that.

One had Will pinned for a moment, but he took it’s head off with a Bombarda spell that was supposed to be a body-bind curse, but he could cast wordlessly so it’s not like anyone knew.

After that he cast Cave Inimicum and a silencing charm on himself, no more unwelcome surprises for him.

He found the golden puzzle box quick enough and made his way out with a pathfinder charm.

He stood in the floodlit arena, the audience shifted in their seats, looking to see if he’d retrieved the puzzle box. In the crowd his headmaster caught his eye and Will held the puzzle box in the air, high above his head and the crowd cheered deafeningly. Pulling his eyes away from his headmaster he sought out Parv in the crowd.

Parv was there, cheering and hollering with a group of his friends, Will felt his heart do a little backflip.

~

In spite of the first few Yaoguai he was fastest through the caves; Ross came in last with a smile on his face none the less; despite being only the second fastest, the Korgstoff student came first, because he didn’t actually kill any of the Yaoguai.

The Yaoguai breeder had ranted Will’s ear off, leaving Will with a bitter feeling in his stomach and a faint sense wondering of ‘Why is Yaoguai breeder an actual job?’

Any leftover buzz about being the fastest by far and the most proficient spellcaster under stress of the three champions was quickly dulled out by the scolding he got from his headmaster.

“Sir Embrastion’s Academy breeds winners!” he said “I should never have let you put your name in that cup! Why that damned thing picked you over Kirin I’ll never know.”

~

The next day Will studied the cube and drew each side of it in as much detail as he could, copied down the runes onto separate parchment and was just starting on a translation for them when Parv dropped down next to him, big grin on his face.

“Congrats on first place” he said.

Will looked at him over the top of his glasses “Second.”

Parv made a dismissive noise and picked up the cube “Technicalities.”

Will shook his head, none of his classmates had been too happy about the Yaoguai incident, but there was little he could do about that, so now he was just going to seclude himself and work out the clue for the next challenge.

He was referring to a book on dwarvish runes when he heard a few clicks and clacks, then winding clockwork. He looked up to see Parv watching as the cube folded itself into a pyramid.

“What did you do?” he asked

Parv shrugged. “Solved it.” he didn’t sound too sure.

Will took it off him and examined the runes on the now puzzle pyramid.

“You’re thinking about it too much.” he said, leaning over to press into the three runes (one on each face) that only appeared once on the whole pyramid. It opened in Will’s hands and started to speak. He slammed it shut just as the librarian appeared round the corner to shush them.

“Thanks…” he mumbled. Noting down which runes Parv had pressed.

“So…” Parv got his attention again “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Will smiled at him “Yeah”

“I’ll meet you in the main courtyard.”

Parv scarpered away with a grin, winking at Will before he disappeared from sight.

~

Parv stopped just outside the library. Seeing Will like that had… well it had upset him to say the least.

He had actually been looking for Will when he’d gone to the library, because he’d heard from Sparkles, who’d heard from Tall Tom, who’d heard from Kim who said that she’d heard from Hannah that she’d overheard Trott telling Ross how to solve the puzzle.

But he hadn’t expected to find Will like that.

Breathing staggering from the steady rhythm he was forcing it to be, both hands shaking as he wrote far slower that he had been the other day, tapping with his fingers like he was counting.

So he’d dropped down next to him, all smiles and solved the puzzle for him, he hoped that it was a weight off his mind, and he wouldn’t take offense to it, but he could explain properly tomorrow.

It was obvious that Will wanted to be alone, so he didn’t want to stick around for too long, but when he’d asked about tomorrow Will’s hands had stopped shaking and he stopped tapping…

And he smiled.

Parv felt a little warmer at that, grinned and left Will to his thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4

Parv took Will to Honeydukes first, stood outside for a moment as Parv marveled, listing off the different sweets they had. He was about to go in but stopped abruptly on the front step when he saw the crease in Will’s brow.

“Actually.” he said “It’s too crowded in there, The Three Broomsticks will be too.”

“What do you want to do then?”

“Do you want to go for a walk?”

Will looked startled, and his relief was poorly hidden. “Sure, lead the way.”

They walked through Hogsmeade and passed the station, they walked along the lakeside for a while chatting about Quidditch - Will was a fan, but terrible at playing, Parv took the opportunity to brag about his skills as a Chaser, Will laughed but said he would like to see him play. They eventually dissolved into companionable silence.

“Are you alright?” Parv asked.

“Uh…” Will considered his answer for a moment, meeting Parv’s eye as he said “I’m not really cut out for all this champion business.”

“You did pretty damn well on the first challenge!” Parv offered

Will shook his head “It’s not that.” he sighed, looking away “It doesn’t matter.”

Parv didn’t push it.

He shivered as the cold winds cut into him, zipping his jacket up to his chin he glanced at the sky “I hope it doesn’t start snowing again.” he mumbled.

“It’s probably going to, it hardly stops” shrugged Parv, noticing that Will wasn’t exactly dressed for the weather, had his school jumper on beneath his jacket. “Aren’t you freezing?”

Will nodded “Yeah, I think I underestimated how cold it would get here.”

“Here.” Parv took off his scarf and wrapped it around Will’s neck.

“Wha- no, now you’ll be cold!”

Parv waved a dismissive hand “I’m used to the cold. Now come on, lets keep walking.”

They didn’t get much further before a snowball hit Parv square in the back of the head. They turned around to see three guys, one of them wore the same scarf as Parv’s, the others wore yellow and blue, they were laughing and the one with the green scarf was already rolling a new snowball. If Will wasn’t mistaken the one with the yellow scarf was his fellow champion.

Parv was about to scoop up a handful of snow, but Will stopped him, drawing his wand.

He barely moved his hand, but when Smith tried to throw the snowball it almost instantly looped back and hit him square in the face, knocking him flat.

Ross and Trott both burst out laughing, so did Parv.

Smith didn’t find it nearly as funny. As he got up he drew his wand, face like thunder.

“Oh shit. Run.”

Will didn’t question it, just turned and followed after Parv.

~

They ended up somewhere in the forest, breathless and still laughing.

“What spell was that?”

Will straightened his glasses “First year levitation spell.” he said, getting his breath back.

Parv bubbled over with a fresh burst of laughter, without thinking his arms snaked around Will’s waist. “Good god you’re brilliant.” he chuckled, resting his head on his chest.

He felt Will rest his hands cautiously on his back.

Parv looked up at Will, the last of the laughter tweaking his lips into a smile, Will looked right back at him, his hand wandering to brush at Parv’s hair, which was in desperate need of a cut. His heart fluttered, the slytherin scarf matched Will’s eyes, his lips and cheeks were pink in the cold. Will’s hand settled in his hair, brushing gently with his thumb.

Parv stood on his tiptoes to kiss him.

Their noses bumped and Will stumbled back a little, but he gripped Parv’s waist firmly to balance them, and tilted his head and ducking down a little to meet him halfway.

Will’s lips were bitten by the cold and by himself, but soft against Parv’s.

When their noses bumped again and Parv knocked Will’s glasses, Parv dissolved into giggles against Will’s lips. Will laughed too as Parv looped his arms round his shoulders and kissed him on the nose and Will hugged him back, strong arms circling his waist.


	5. Chapter 5

Will lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Kirin’s snoring in the bed opposite keeping him from sleeping.

That and the dread that had filled him right from the moment he’d heard the phrases ‘Yule Ball’ and ‘Champions Dance’.

His headmaster had paired him off with Hope Clissandra and wouldn’t hear another word about it.

Will scowled. The part of his brain that wanted to make everyone happy told him to grin and bare it, but the rest of him wanted to spend the whole evening dancing with Parvis, twirling the smaller man in his arms, lifting him into the air on every third turn like he’d been practicing with Hope.

He didn’t even know if he’d be allowed to take Parv? Would he? Were there rules about that at Hogwarts? He knew there was at Sir Embrastion’s, but the UK was generally more accepting than the US.

Would Parv be annoyed at him? Probably.

Would Parv forgive him was the more pressing question.

Maybe Parv already had someone else to go with? It wouldn’t surprise him. Parv was charming and charismatic and handsome, everything Will was supposed to be and more.

He cursed the day he’d let his father put his name down for this tournament. Not that he’d been expecting to be picked, everyone thought it would be Kirin. Even Kirin. At the ceremony he’d taken a stumbled half-step before he realised that wasn’t his name, everyone had been looking at Kirin before they’d realised the same. Kirin wasn’t an arrogant guy, just confident, and had actually been pretty supportive throughout this whole thing.

But then again, if his father hadn’t made him do this. He never would’ve met Parv.

Will sat up abruptly.

He’d just have to bite the bullet and talk to Parv, surely he understand if Will just explained?

Wil snatched his wand of the bedside table and was careful not to wake Kirin as he opened the window.

He mumbled a spell and a tiny, black bird hopped out of his wand tip and onto the window ledge. Taking a piece of paper from his bag he quickly scrawled a note, charming it so only Parv could read it. He gave the note to the bird, gave it a light pat on the head with his finger and it flew off.

~

Parv stared bleary eyed at the bird perched on his chest, wielding a piece of paper at him.

To tired for ‘Why is there a bird in my room?’ let alone ‘How did a bird get in the dungeons?’ he took the note and tried not to think too hard as the bird dissolved into sparks.

The note read ‘Parvis, meet me in the courtyard before breakfast. W’

Parv grumbled. Stupid morning person. Setting stupid morning meeting times that he couldn’t respond to.

~

Parv wanted to ignore the unpleasant, bitter way his stomach dropped as Will told him about this ‘Hope’ girl he was going to the Yule Ball with, he wanted to listen to Will’s explanation, he wanted to keep a cool head.

But instead he turned on his heel and stormed away. Hexing Will’s feet to stick to the floor when he tried to follow.

He had been looking forward to breakfast when he’d caught the smell of bacon wafting out the great hall, but now his stomach churned over with bile, a bitter taste in the back of his mouth, and he wanted to hit something.

~

It felt like an age and a half now that he was avoiding Will like the plague, but the Yule Ball rolled around, and Parv was in his dress robes, arm in arm with some Gryffindor girl Kogie set him up with, stood around the dancefloor in the great hall, waiting for the Champions to make their entrance.

The fanfare started up and Parv tried very hard to look like he didn’t care about Will, he tried to be absolutely engrossed with the Gryffindor girl, but she was standing on her tiptoes trying to see the champions and their partners.

As the Hogwarts champion, Ross was in first, hair that was usually left to stick up at all angles like he’d just gotten off a broom combed neatly flat, the widest grin on his face, Trott was on his arm, red-faced and eyes flicking about nervously, but he still looked happy. Smith was in the crowd, wolf whistling and whooping.

Next was the Korgstroff champion, on the arm of a Hufflepuff seventh year who looked delighted and scared at the same time, at half her height, you did wonder how he’d do the lifts.

And lastly there was Will and ‘Hope’. Parv glared at her in her pretty blue dress that matched her pretty blue eyes, with her blonde curls pinned back perfectly, smiling and waving, her other hand resting delicately on Will’s. They looked like the perfect couple.

Parv seethed, resisting the urge to cast a Barricus hex on her. But then, all of that dissolved away when he looked at Will, and his heart constricted in his chest.

Tall and regal, dressed in burgundy and black, wearing one of those one-shouldered cloaks Parv didn’t know the name of, Will strode onto the dance floor, leading Hope and twirling her into hold once they were in place, a gentle smile just tweaking the corner of his mouth.

Parv did try not to stare. He really did. But confidence suited him, just the way he carried himself, the strong line of his shoulders accentuated by his well tailored suit, Parv was weak at the knees.

The music started and Parv held his breath as Will (and Hope but he wasn’t paying attention to her) twirled around the floor, muscles flexing under his shirt during each lift.

He could have sworn Will’s smile dropped for the briefest second as they caught each other’s gaze, but maybe he imagined it because his date elbowed him roughly in the side.

“Going to ask me to dance?” she asked sweetly, like she hadn’t just bruised his ribs.

Parv smiled sweetly back at her “Sure.”

He hadn’t realised other couples were joining in, and he knew very well that he had two left feet, but he let his date drag him onto the floor as he wracked his brain for her name.

~

Parv definitely stepped on her toes.

Definitely.

That’s why she stormed off.

Or maybe her name wasn’t Katie.

Parv didn’t care.

The band that had replaced the orchestra were pretty good, but he was sat outside the hall, in the cold, bitter and brooding, scowling at his shoes.

He glanced up just in time to see Will, stood in the gardens, talking to a journalist from the Daily Prophet. Parv knew her, she was a bitch who stuck her nose in all the wrong places and never knew when she wasn’t wanted or welcome. Like most journalists he supposed. She’d nearly gotten his mother in trouble once or twice until Mother got one of her goons to have a ‘chat’ with the nosy bitch.

Will looked a little distressed, clenching and unclenching his fist behind his back, trying to answer her questions when she wouldn’t let him get a word in edgeways.

Parv stormed right up to her “What do you want?” he demanded.

“And you are…” she waited for his name.

“Parvis. Alex Parvis.”

She paled. Good to know she remembered the family name, and Parv wasn’t above telling his mother.

“Oh. Well I was just talking to Will here-”

“About what? This is a ball not a challenge, what is there to talk about?” Parv wished he had his mother’s cool head in times like this.

“I wanted to ask him-”

“I don’t give a damn, now get your fat arse out of here before I do it for you.”

She flushed, pursing her lips “Very well then, I’ll see you at the next challenge, Will, and do try to get your Lapdog under control by then.” she flounced away. Leaving Will and Parv alone in the Gardens.

Still annoyed at Will, Parv turned away and was about to leave-

“Parv, wait.”

“What?” he demanded, turning back as Will grabbed his shoulder.

“Will you walk with me?” he asked, and Parv looked away. It was very difficult to stay mad when Will looked at him like that, it felt like he was looking at a side of Will that no one else got to see.

He didn’t ask why, he just nodded and went with him, away from the great hall and around the grounds.

They didn’t talk, they just walked on in silence. Despite his best efforts his irritation at Will was being washed away in his presence. And Parv finally spared a glance at Will, who was watching where he was walking, his shoulders no longer held strong and back straight; and in that moment, something clicked.

He must have reacted because Will looked up.

“What is it?”

Parv quickly pretended to be angry again. “Nothing.”

He could feel Will looking at him as he slowed to a stop, Parv stopped a little ahead of him.

“I really am sorry, you know.” he said, in the soft gravelly voice Parv new, not the well elocuted basey one he used when he spoke to other people, especially journalists. “I wanted to take you, I did. Especially when I knew Ross was taking his… Trott.” Will hesitated for the right word, Parv wasn’t sure anyone but them knew what to call them.

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Honestly, I didn’t have a choice.”

Parv snorted in doubt.

“You’re right. I- I did have a choice, I just- I let someone else make it for me and- and I’m not good at things like this-” he drew a shaky breath “I don’t- I can’t- … I’m not- You deserve more than my lame-ass excuses, and I- I understand if you-”

Parv’s shoulders sagged as he watched Will, muscles tense, fiddling with his glasses and avoiding eye contact. “It’s fine.” he said “I don’t really like dancing, so…” he shrugged.

Will didn’t relax and tried to continue his apology, voice shaking.

Parv stepped right up to him and hugged him round his middle, head on his chest. Will stammered and his hands hovered uneasily by his shoulders.

“This doesn’t feel like an ‘I’m really sorry’ hug, Will.” Parv pointed out, talking into Will’s chest so he was surprised when Will heard and slid his arms hesitantly around him. “Sorry about Hexing you.”

“It’s okay.”

Will’s fingers threaded through Parv’s hair, his hand was shaking.

Through his shirt and waist coat, Parv could feel the twitch and tremor of Will’s muscles. He did his best to sooth it, running soft circles with his thumbs on Will’s back, nuzzling into his chest.

He squeezed a little tighter for a moment, and he rubbed Will’s back in a way he hoped was comforting “Talk to me… tell me what’s wrong.” he said gently.

Will pressed his lips to the top of Parv’s head. “I can’t.” he breathed into his hair “I’m sorry, I can’t.”


	6. Chapter 6

Will wasn’t quite sure if Parv had pushed or pulled him into this broom cupboard, but Parv’s motives had certainly been clear once the door had closed behind them.

Parv had pulled him down by his collar and crushed their mouths together, backing him to the wall.

Will had had the wherewithal to lock the door behind them, in spite of the delightful attentions of Parv’s lips on his neck.

Somewhat over-eager to start with, Parv seemed to have calmed down by now.

The two of them were sat on the floor of the broom cupboard, Parv straddling Will’s lap, their fingers twisted and threaded together, Parv was sulking.

“I’m not gonna indulge this childish behaviour, Parvis.” Will said, as Parv continued to play with Will’s hands and pout. “We are in a school, Parvis. We could both be expelled if we got caught.”

“Then we’ll put silencing charms on the door!”

“And if someone comes in here just looking for a broom? Plus I’d like to know you for a bit longer than five months before… well.”

“Longer than five months?!”

“Yes. Parvis.” he said insistently “And not in a broom closet either.”

“I’ve done it in worse places!” Parv protested. Will pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

“Is the irony too much?”

Will spluttered a laugh. He guessed Parv had finally gotten the point.

“What can we do then?”

“Well unless you brought me in here for anything else we could walk around the grounds and just talk.”

Parv didn’t look too happy with that suggestion.

“Or I could help you with your potions homework.”

Parv looked even less happy.

“Well what then?”

“I wanted to wish you good luck with the Challenge tomorrow.”

“And you couldn’t just say ‘good luck’?”

“That would be boring.” he said, dipping to kiss Will again.

“Well you’re anything but boring.” Will added as Parv kissed him, far softer this time, slower, bracing himself on Will’s shoulders. Parv felt a gentle warmth spread over him as Will’s hands found his waist.

~

Will paced up and down the champions tent, the images that had been their clue were easy enough to figure out, or at least, he had a vague idea-

“All right?” asked Ross, stopping him from pacing, he looked a little ill.

Will nodded “Good enough and yourself?”

Ross shrugged “Ah, well, you know…” he trailed off, Will nodded again, he knew exactly how he felt. “Did you figure out the-”

“Puzzle box? I had help but I got it open.”

“Same.” Ross smiled, “And the riddle?”

“Well…” he’d love to say that he had it figured out and knew exactly what it told him about the first task.

“I got the thing about trying to find something - well, Trott did - but I don’t see how that was supposed to help us?”

“I can only assume that the answer to the riddle will reveal itself in the challenge. An elaborate metaphor maybe?”

“Yeah maybe.”

Will straightened his glasses and glanced towards the entrance of the tent.

“No sign of Parv?”

Will shook his head.

“I haven’t seen Smith or Trott either. Maybe they’re being really strict about visitors this time?” Ross suggested hopefully

“Maybe…”

~

Will closed his eyes, took deep breaths and didn’t think about the enormous pit they were stood over. He didn’t think about how he couldn’t see the bottom of said enormous pit, he didn’t think about the assault course that was levitating in the air ahead of him and he didn’t think about how the assault course circled down into the enormous pit.

Ross and the Korgstroff champion were to his left on their own tracks.

The Korgstroff champion had a 10 second head start, then himself and Ross would start, and 30 seconds after that they could start slinging spells at one another - and just use magic generally.

The first cannon sounded and the Korgstroff champion didn’t even hesitate as they raced through the assault course like it wasn’t goodness knows how high off the ground. Will recited gripping charms, anti-nausea and anti-vertigo charms in his head, none of which he felt hugely confident in perfoming whilst suspended in the air.

The second cannon sounded. Will took a deep breath and launched himself forward across the planks that formed a rope bridge without the rope. All the while keeping an ear out for the third cannon and keeping an eye on Ross, who was level with him, for now.

The third cannon sounded as Will clambered up a rope fixed to a wall. He daren't try to retrieve his wand from its sheath on his thigh while he was like this, so he clambered over the top of the wall and straddled it. He pulled his wand free - praying he didn’t drop it - and cast gripping charms on his hands and feet, before carefully dropping down to the platform on the other side of the wall.

Ross was only a short way ahead of him, and he could only barely see the Korgstroff champion as they worked their way through the downward spiral.  
Looking out for his fellow champions made him lose his footing on the stepping stones, and the gripping charm could do little to help him as he fell, desperately running through spells he knew as he tried to wrestle his wand from it’s seathe.

Screams from the crowd above echoed in his ears and he spun, hitting another part of the course on his way down.

Everything went black.


End file.
